Notebook Computers

Welcome to our notebook computers review. We hope the information below will help you to buyyour new notebook computer. It's pretty incredible how powerful modern laptops have become, and we are currently particular fans of the Athlon 64 processor, which offers excellent processing power and an upgrade path to 64-bit computing, which should see a new 64-bit Microsoft operating system before too long. Our current favourite laptop suppliers are Novatech Direct Ltd and Micro Direct.

Best notebook computer sites UK

Comet

Misco

John Lewis

Dell UK

Hewlett Packard

T-Mobile Mobile Broadband

Laptop Battery Finder

Dabs

Laskys Home Electronics

MacWarehouse

Dell Small Business Deals

Laptops at LowPrices.co.uk

PC World

Saverstore

Insight Laptop Deals

Useful Features to Look For in Notebook Computers

A 20Gb hard drive will be adequate for many users, but if you are intending to save a lot of digital music or video to your hard drive, you would benefit from at least a 40Gb hard drive.

The amount of memory (RAM) your system has, will make a difference to how well the system performs (response speed and ability to run multiple programs at the same time). The absolute minimum required to run Windows XP is 128Mb, but 256Mb is the minimum memory we'd recommend, and 512Mb would be preferable. If you are a graphic designer and will be working with large digital photos or video files, then you'll appreciate 1Gb of memory.

A screen size of 15" is adequate for most users, but if you are thinking of doing graphic design, then consider going for a 17" widescreen.

It's very useful to have a CD-RW (rewriter) or DVD-RW drive, which will allow you to back up your data to CD or DVD respectively. DVDs hold a lot more data than CDs so a DVD ReWriter is preferable.

Connectivity for Laptops

USB 2.0 ports - 2.0 is the latest standard for USB ports, and you'll find these pretty useful when it comes to adding peripherals to your laptop - try and find a laptop with two or more.

Firewire ports. These allow faster data transfer than USB, and are therefore often used by digital video cameras.

Best Processors for Laptops

Regarding processors, we're currently big fans of the Athlon 64, which is a powerful processor which compares favourably against the Pentium 4 on grounds of both cost and performance. The Athlon 64 will also allow you to run 64 bit operating systems and programs when they are introducted (in the next couple of years).

If you have any advice for buying a notebook computer that you think should appear on this page, then let us know and our editors will consider it.